Milka Duno – she of the four-year IndyCar career that included this memorable disagreement with then-fellow IndyCar driver Danica Patrick at Mid-Ohio, and not a single top-10 finish – has since made the switch to ARCA stock cars, and raced without much in the way of success for several years.

Despite the limited success, Duno has always enjoyed a healthy level of support from her native Venezuela. She’s just been less than stellar on track for the majority of her career.

And it’s with that as a preamble that we reveal this news: she’s racing selected NASCAR Nationwide Series events for RAB Racing.

Ordinarily with press releases like this you just pick out a quote or two, offer a stat or two to complement it and leave it at that for a quick post.

But in this case, I’m gonna say it’s important to show the whole thing, because it’s an… erm… shall we say there were some “performance enhancements” within the release.

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Duno signs limited NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule with RAB Racing

Los Angeles, Calif. (August 4, 2014) – RAB Racing has signed multiple race-winning driver Milka Duno to compete in select races in the 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series and with the entry Duno will become the first Hispanic female driver in history to compete in a NASCAR national series in the United States.

A successful driver who has competed in multiple racing series Duno has eight major race wins in the highest classes (Prototype) in the American Le Mans Series and the Grand American Rolex Series and the highest finish ever by a female driver (2nd place) in the 24 Hours at Daytona – in the now 52-year history of the race.

When she won the Rolex Series Grand Prix of Miami she became the first woman in history to win a major international race in the USA.

In 2007, Duno was also the first Hispanic female driver, in the now 103-year history of the race, to qualify for and compete in the world famous Indianapolis 500. Duno competed in the Indianapolis 500 for three consecutive seasons and in the IndyCar Series for four consecutive seasons – running partial schedules in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and a full schedule in 2010.

In making her transition to stock car racing and her ultimate entry into NASCAR Duno has been competing in the ARCA Racing Series (ARCA) for the past three seasons. In 2011 and 2012 she competed in partial schedules and in her first full ARCA season in 2013, competing with Venturini Motorsports, she finished the season 7th in the driver point standings and became the 2nd highest finishing female driver in ARCA’s now 62-year history. Duno is also the first Hispanic female driver to compete in ARCA.

During her 2013 ARCA season Duno started 2nd in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and took the lead on the first lap and led the race for several laps – becoming the first Hispanic female driver to lead an ARCA race.

At Talladega Superspeedway she earned the pole, led the race and became the first Hispanic female driver to earn an ARCA pole. She also became only the fourth female driver in ARCA history, and only the second female driver in 25 years, to earn an ARCA pole at Talladega. Duno finished her 2013 ARCA season 3rd in most laps completed and 3rd in hard charger points.

“I’m really very excited and honored to enter into NASCAR and the Nationwide Series,” said Duno. “It has always been a goal and dream of mine to compete in NASCAR and I worked very hard in ARCA to turn this goal into a reality. I always strive to challenge myself as a driver and I’ve been fortunate to compete in many types of racing – and while the competition is always my number one focus – I am very proud of the history that I have made as a female driver, and the Hispanic sports history as well, that has been made along the way.” Added Duno, “NASCAR is the most competitive and popular racing series in the USA and I’m very proud to enter the series with RAB Racing and I look forward to competing with them in their No. 29 Toyota Camry.”

“We’ve watched Milka develop in the ARCA Racing Series and feel she is prepared for the next step in her stock car racing career,” said RAB Racing owner Robby Benton. “I think that working together with Chris Rice, Milka can find a home in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. She has a very strong fan base and we hope we can attract them to follow her in her NASCAR endeavors. Milka is very intelligent and educated and we look forward to working with her.”

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If you’ve followed Duno’s career for any length of time, you’re aware how enhanced those quotes and stats can be.

That aforementioned Rolex Grand Prix of Miami, Duno ran less than half an hour in the two and a half hour plus race, and co-driver Andy Wallace needed to perform a minor miracle to recover the lost time, claw back the deficit and win the race.

She was frequently black flagged in IndyCar for failing to sustain the minimum pace on road and street courses.

Leading an ARCA race at Daytona is hardly the racing world’s most memorable accomplishment.

All that aside, I do wish Duno the best, and I also hope for her sake and the team’s sake that her past performances in other forms of motorsport do not negatively impact her NASCAR career.

If it means to her as much as she says it does within this release, ideally she’s improved her craft enough in ARCA to where she will not be a potential liability on track.